This invention relates to cold weather breathing devices, and more particularly to an improved "flexible" conduit arrangement and improved valve arrangements for such devices.
When walking, jogging, running, hunting or carrying out other physical activity in cold weather, one generally has a great deal of discomfort due to the breathing in of very cold air. Additionally, medical problems may be caused due to breathing in cold air when performing physical activities.
When using cold weather breathing devices, for example of the type disclosed in my earlier application Ser. No. 239,497, for walking, jogging and running, it is of utmost important that the user's head has substantially complete freedom of movement so that the user can move his head in substantially any direction, for example to observe automobile traffic. Also, to provide the least possible resistance, the conduit connecting the mouthpiece and the chest covering member should be as short as possible. It is also preferable that the conduit connecting the mouthpiece and the chest covering member not be so flexible (or floppy) that it bounces up and down during running or jogging, for example with a resonance. Theoretically, a substantially rigid conduit would be preferable from the point of view of vibration and stability of the conduit. However, such a rigid conduit would not provide the flexibility required to permit substantially free movement of the head of the user.
It has been found that cold air breathing devices with large valves for directing air flow sometimes cause vibrations which are transferred to the mouth and which could hurt the user's teeth when running. Moreover, it has been found that when the user exhausts air with maximum force, a vacuum is sometimes created in the chamber between the intake and exhaust valves which could lift both intake valves off of their seats. This disadvantageously causes air to bleed back into the intake pipe.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved cold air breathing device having faster acting valves which provide less resistance to air flow and which reduces the tendency to produce disadvantageous vibrations.
A further object of the invention is to provide such a cold weather breathing device with a means for preventing a vacuum from being created in the chamber between the intake and exhaust valves in order to prevent exhaust air from bleeding back into the intake pipe of the device. Such a means would also promote a better synchronous valve cycle under mild and severe exhaust conditions.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved conduit arrangement for a cold air breathing device which uses body heat to heat the inhaled air, and which is simple in construction, easy to manufacture, and which permits substantially free movement of the head of the user without excessively vibrating and bobbing up and down.
A further object is to provide such a device which, while providing substantially free mobility of the head, also has characteristics associated with a rigid or substantially rigid conduit.
Still another object is to provide such a conduit which can be fabricated advantageously with simple molded plastic parts.
Yet another object is to provide a conduit which does not utilize corrugated flexible portions, which corrugations tend to restrict air flow.